Event Review: Shop N’ Mingle

Popular Brooklyn fashion den, Harriet’s Alter Ego, hosted its fourth annual Shop N’ Mingle this past Sunday. For those who have never had the pleasure of attending one of these events let me give you the run down. Essentially, a dozen or so emerging artists offering hair products, jewelry, scarves, hats, clothes, make-up and just about anything else you can think of, are put in one location for shoppers to scoop up unique, home-grown finds.

This year, Shop N’ Mingle was held at the National Black Theatre in Harlem on December 2nd, the day New York had its first real snow, which may have hampered turnout a bit. Noted stylist and Celebrity Styleaholic, Najwa Moses hosted the event. The 300 or so visitors who patronized the afternoon’s dozen vendors were treated to sounds by DJ Lynnee Denise (she had my head noddin’ the whole time), complimentary champagne cocktails, scrumptious desserts and extremely generous gift bags. The gift bags were emblazoned with the Yellow Rat Bastard NYC logo and contained over a dozen goodies, including a jar of Miss Jessie’s Stretch Silkening Creme, some truly decedent cocoa (this compliment is coming for a hot cocoa connoisseur), a Van Hunt cd sampler, Vitamin Water, a mirror compact and a load of other thoughtful gifts.

I peaked around before the event officially opened to the public, so I got a chance to chit chat with some of the vendors. Eboni Cooper, the 30 year old baby-faced owner of Isuco Fairies, has a line of t-shirts (children and adult sizes) featuring adorable fairies of different ethnicities. She said she has always been in love with magic and enchantment and she hopes to instill self-esteem in young girls by giving them characters that look like them. Not content with just t-shirts, Cooper plans to write a children’s book filled with adventures of her multi-cultural fairies.

Creativity must run in the family because Cooper’s doting mom, Carolyn C. also had a table set up at Shop N’ Mingle, hawking Carol’s Bags; a line of reversible book bags, purses and messenger bags made out of recycled material like drapes, jeans and scarves. Cute, reversible and environmentally responsible? I love it.

The afternoon’s host, Najwa Moses displayed her new line of leather earrings called Salte. Colorful and unique, the line features pieces called The Blogger, The Stylist, The Celebrity and other fun names.

Adande of My Funky Twisted Soul credited her mother for inspiring her work and absolutely beamed when speaking of the creative influence of Nina Simone on some of her favorite pieces. Right next to Adande’s wall of spiraled metal accessories was Bohemian Soul, another sista run business. Bohemian Soul features hand crotched scarves, hats and other accessories. As a native Michigander and now a New Yorker, I really appreciate designers who can meld cute AND warm successfully.

Perhaps the award for most traveled of the day would go to the owner of Indigofera, a salon specializing in natural hair and skin care. She traveled from Philadelphia to participate in Shop N’ Mingle and was offering on-the-spot styling for those who dared.

When asked why a Brooklyn store like Harriet’s Alter Ego would host an event in Harlem, a representative stated that Brooklyn is somewhat “saturated” with

local designer events, while Harlem is still on the upswing for such opportunities. Perhaps next year, more Harlem artists will be involved with Shop N’ Mingle.

Are you a Harlem artist who wants to be involved with Shop N’ Mingle? Hit up Harriet’s Alter Ego and ask Hekima and Ngozi (the shop’s fabulous and gracious owners) how you can get in on it next year.

I found lots of artists/designers that I will definitely go back to and I hope to see even more vendors at next year’s Shop N’ Mingle.